OTHER BOOKS BY JEFF KINNEY
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down
The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book
The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary
COMING SOON: MORE DIARY OF A WIMPY KID
Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for
and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4197-2752-8
eISBN 978-1-68335-193-1
Copyright © 2017 Wimpy Kid, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid motion picture elements copyright © 2017 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary:
The Next Chapter (excluding motion picture elements or as noted below)
© 2017 Wimpy Kid, Inc.
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, WIMPY KID and the Greg Heffley image are
trademarks of Wimpy Kid, Inc. All rights reserved.
Film unit photography by Dan McFadden
Photos on pages 58, 60–62, 66, 74, 78 (bottom), 81, 84, 87, 88,
119 (middle), 128 (middle), 133 (bottom), 135 (top), 153,
164 (bottom), 165 (top), 173 (top), 178, and 179 copyright © 2017 David Bowers
Photo on page 198 (top) © 2017 Carol Tresan
Photos on pages 36, 37 (bottom), 38, 39, 46 (top), 59,
71 (bottom), 120, 124, 137, and 197 copyright © 2017 Jeff Kinney
Photos on pages 4, 5, and 190 used under license from iStockPhoto
Models on pages 42 and 113 used under license from iStockPhoto
Photograph on page 169 used under license
from Moviestore Collection Ltd/Alamy Stock Photos
Photograph on page 170 used under license from Photo 12/Alamy Stock Photos
Book and cover design by Jeff Kinney
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TO JASON
The Road to “The Long Haul”
Making a movie is a lot like going on a road trip.
You start out with an idea of where you’d like to
go, you make plans, and eventually you head off on
your journey. There might be a few detours, and
there are bound to be a few bumps along the way.
But if everything goes as planned, you’ll end up
where you wanted to be, and you’ll feel good about
your accomplishment. And more often than not,
the trip will change you for the better.
This book is about the making of “Diary of a
Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul.” Moviemaking is full
of twists and turns, so there’s a lot of ground to
cover. But every trip, and every story, starts at
the beginning.
A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
Like many movies, “The Long Haul” was a book
before it became a film. And like many of the
books in the Wimpy Kid series, this one was
inspired by real-life events.
“The Long Haul” can trace its origins all the way
back to the 1970s, when the Kinney family had a
number of memorable, and awful, road trips.
Back in those days, the minivan hadn’t been
invented, so families tended to get around in
station wagons, which weren’t nearly as spacious.
SERVICE
STATION
20 MILES
2
If the Kinneys wanted to go somewhere far from
home, they almost always drove. But a lot can go
wrong on the road.
There was the time the Kinneys locked themselves
out of the station wagon. Then there was the
time one of the Kinney kids threw up in the
backseat before they even got out of the driveway.
And the time the Kinneys went camping in the
mountains, and had to sleep in the car when a
bear invaded the campsite. That might sound hard
to believe, but it really happened.
Two stories in particular became the inspiration
for scenes in “The Long Haul.” And both involve
animals getting loose in the car.
SNUFFLE
GRUNT
3
The Kinney kids were raised in Maryland, where in
the summertime it’s common for a family to pick up
a bushel of crabs at a roadside stand on the way
home. That means driving with a paper bag full of
live crabs.
One summer night, the car hit a pothole, and the
paper bag tipped over. The crabs ran wild on
the floor of the station wagon, and the terrified
Kinney kids squealed in horror in the backseat.
Forty years later, that episode inspired the
seagull scene in the book “The Long Haul.” The
details are all changed, but the idea is the same:
It’s terrifying to be trapped in a small space with
panicked animals.
4
Another near-disaster occurred when the family’s
pet rabbit, Frisky, somehow got out of its cage in
the back of the station wagon and tried to squirm
through the back window.
But Mrs. Kinney saved the day by leaping from
the front seat to the back and grabbing the
rabbit’s hind legs before it had a chance to
become roadkill.
SCREAM!
SCREECH!
SMACK
BONK
5
Later on, this became the inspiration for a scene
in “The Long Haul,” when the pig gets out of its
cooler and tries to escape.
Most families have at least one road-trip horror
story just like these.
And that was the idea
for “The Long Haul” —
if Greg Heffley and his
family went on a road
trip across the country,
what are all the things
that could go wrong?
WRIGGLE
SQUIRM
EASY AS ONE-TWO-THREE
In 2015
, there were ten Wimpy Kid books, and
three of them had already been made into movies.
“The Long Haul” was the first Wimpy Kid book
that was actually written with a movie in mind. And
the timing was perfect: The studio had started to
think about making a new Wimpy Kid movie.
Everyone agreed, “The Long Haul” was a great
idea for the next film. The first three movies were
set in the Heffleys’ town, but this was a chance
to get Greg and his family out of their regular
world and on the road.
7
But the movie would have to be different from the
book. If you’ve ever seen a movie that’s based on
a book you’ve read, you’ve probably noticed that
there are a lot of changes. That’s because if you
film a book exactly the way it’s written, chances
are it won’t make a very good movie.
Even though every movie is different, audiences
expect certain things to happen when they’re
watching a film. Almost all movies are written in
three sections called “acts.” Let’s take a look at
what happens in each act, using one of Greg and
Rowley’s movies as an example.
Night
of
the
NIGHT
CRAWLERS
8
ACT ONE
We meet the main character, or “hero.”
We learn about the hero’s world and the problems
the hero faces.
Hi,
I’m
Bob.
I live in
a tiny
apartment.
My fridge
is broke
and it always
makes
stuff way too
cold!
I have
a
roommate
roommate named Dave
who is
SO lazy.
Dave,
you
left your
socks in the
sink!
zzzz
You
gotta
chill,
bro.
FROZEN
SOLID
Something unexpected happens.
The hero is faced with a big decision.
ONE NIGHT BOB
COMES HOME
FROM WORK...
What
a
rotten
day
at
work!
Dave better
not be laying
around...
What
the-?
There
are
giant
worms
everywhere!
SCREAM!
SCREAM!
I’m
outta
here!
PANT
PANT
I can’t
let
those
worms
eat
my
roommate!
What
should
I
do?
Run?
Or
fight?
SLAM
ACT TWO
The hero takes action!
I
can’t
just
let
those
worms
eat
Dave!
Even
if
he
IS
a
lazy
jerk.
Time
to
take
action!
I’m
here
to
save
you,
Dave!
WHAM
Where
are
you?
I
shut
myself
in
the
bathroom!
In the middle of Act Two, something serious
happens.
Things get harder and harder for the hero, and the
hero hits rock bottom.
Here
I
come,
pal!
KICK
Oh
no!
I’m
too
late!
GOBBLE
GOBBLE!
Oh
no!
These
worms
are
eating
my
furniture!
CHEW
CHEW
CHEW
CHEW
And
my
TV!
CHEW
CHEW
And
my
goldfish!
GOBBLE
GOBBLE
What
can
I DO?
ACT THREE
The hero figures out a solution to the problems
and starts to “win.”
I
got
it!
INSECT SPRAY
STORE
One
can
of
worm
repellant,
please.
You
got
it,
bub.
OK
worms...
you
asked
for
it!
FWOOSH
TAKE
THAT!
GASP!
AND
THAT!
AIEEE!
FWOOSH
This
is
working!
Something unexpected happens, and things are
worse than ever for the hero.
Uh-oh,
I
ran
out!
PFST…
What’s
THAT?
RUMBLE
RUMBLE
ROAR!
GOOD
GOLLY!
SMASH!
WRIGGLE
WRIGGLE
Help!
Help!
I
guess
this
is
the
end!
The hero remembers the lessons from what’s
happened before and finds a new solution.
The hero uses those lessons and (usually) wins!
You
gotta
CHILL,
bro!
Here
goes
nothing!
WOOSH
CRACK!
SHATTER!
I
guess
Dave
wasn’t
so
bad
after
all!
THE
END.
Believe it or not, almost every movie you’ll see
follows the same beats of a three-act structure.
“The Wizard of Oz,” “Star Wars,” and every
superhero movie that’s ever been made — if you really
think about it, they’re all the same basic story.
The next time you watch a movie, keep track of
the beats. Try to figure out where one act ends
and the next act begins. And once you can do all
that, you’ll be able to guess what will happen next
in the story.
But be careful. It might not make you popular.
SMOOCH
I’LL BET THE
WEREWOLF COMES
BACK TO LIFE IN
A
CT THREE!
16
GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES
Just because the rules for writing a script are
pretty simple, that doesn’t mean it’s easy for a
screenwriter to get everything right the first
time around. For most movies, there are at least a
dozen drafts, and it takes months of rewriting to
get a script right.
The filmmakers knew that certain changes had to
be made to “The Long Haul” to make the story
work as a movie. In the book, the family sets
out on a road trip, but they’re not really trying
to get anywhere. They just drive around for a few
days and end up where they started, back at home.
But that wouldn’t really work for a movie. It’s
important for the audience to have something to
root for, so the screenwriters gave the Heffleys
a goal: to reach Meemaw’s house in time for her
ninetieth birthday party.
Meemaw is Greg’s great grandmother, and she
made an appearance in Book 8, “Hard Luck.”
In a movie, it’s important to have a “ticking
clock.” When there’s something that has to
happen by a certain time, it makes everything
seem more urgent — and keeps the audience on the
edge of their seats.
Would the Heffleys get to Meemaw’s in time for
the party? Or would Greg screw everything up
and make them miss it? That’s the question at the
center of this movie.
18
The idea for Meemaw’s birthday party stuck and
made it into the final script. But there were lots
of other ideas that didn’t make the cut.
Here are some scenes that were part of the
“Long Haul” script at one time, but were later
thrown out.
Greg, Fregley, and Chirag have an epic laser tag
fight at a bowling alley.
Greg’s family is rescued by a Spanish-speaking
heavy metal group called Metallichihuahua.
BUZZ
ZAP
ZAP
ZAP
BUZZ
ZAP
RED
BLUE
10
7
ZAP
Greg and Rodrick are chased by a charging bull at
the country fair.
The Heffleys and the Beardos get into a tug-of-war
over a lounge chair at a water park.
As you can see, not every idea is a winner. But
trying out lots of different ideas can help point